Mourinho: Pogba must ‘understand why he was so good’

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho thinks Paul Pogba was “absolutely brilliant” during France’s World Cup campaign and hopes the midfielder “understands why” he played at the level he did.

Pogba helped Les Bleus win the tournament in Russia, with the final seeing him score as Croatia were defeated 4-2 in Moscow.

Mourinho, who left the 25-year-old out of his first XI at times last season, spoke about Pogba on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The Portuguese said: “To win the World Cup can only be a positive thing.

“I can only imagine that is only positive, is amazing, is fantastic. So many good players never had the chance to be world champions.

“For Paul, I think to be world champion can only be fantastic.

“I think the future for him in the French national team, amongst that fantastic group of players, can only be brilliant, and I hope that he understands why he was very good.”

Mourinho was speaking on United’s pre-season tour.

He added, according to manutd.com: “I think that’s the point about his performance level and his contribution to a winning team – it’s for him to understand why he was so good, especially in the second part of the competition, quarter-finals, semi-finals, the final, where he was, in my opinion, absolutely brilliant.”

Also regarding the man he signed for £89million in the summer of 2016, Mourinho said: “I did with Paul what I did with all my players.

“I sent a nice message before the World Cup and during it I did not disturb anyone.

“They needed to focus on the job for their national team. After the World Cup I sent a different message than to the other guys because he won the competition.”